The word is sometimes used to imply that although two events happened at the same time, they were not caused by the same factor and one did not cause the other. For example, the phrase "a pure coincidence" would have such an implication; while the phrase "not a coincidence" or "a curious coincidence" would have the opposite implication.

It was a fortunate coincidence that we ran into each other at Starbucks.

The detective said she doesn’t believe in coincidence.

he waited for the coincidence of the target and the cross hairs

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It’s a curious coincidence that you should get a new iPad just when John’s was stolen.

She didn’t think it a coincidence that she got well after he prayed for her.

That’s what makes it such a remarkable coincidence, don’t you see?

Stephen King -- Misery

It was too much of a coincidence to be a mere accident.

Louis Sachar -- Holes

Life’s all coincidence.

Ray Bradbury -- Something Wicked This Way Comes

It would be too much of a coincidence to combine the two.

Agatha Christie -- The ABC Murders

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It would still be an incredible coincidence for another person to have stabbed the father with the same kind of knife.

Reginald Rose -- Twelve Angry Men

It was probably just a coincidence.

Darren Shan -- A Vampire’s Assistant

Built up a nightmare of superstition and fantasy all because of the coincidence of two deaths!

Agatha Christie -- And Then There Were None

For a moment my stomach clenches, thinking she’s making fun of me, but it’s a coincidence.

Lauren Oliver -- Before I Fall

But when you guys showed up and you told us your name …. well, we figured it wasn’t a coincidence."

James Dashner -- The Scorch Trials

Coincidence?

Neal Shusterman -- Unwind

Mrs. Livingston can tell that Harriet—a modern, bobbed-hair girl, a college graduate—is not convinced by dreams and coincidences.

Margaret Peterson Haddix -- Uprising

"It’s just a horrible, miserable coincidence," she’d told me.

Gillian Flynn -- Gone Girl

Coincidence.

James Dashner -- The Kill Order

It didn’t seem willful at first—it was just a series of odd coincidences.

John Green -- An Abundance of Katherines

I don’t even have time to feel embarrassed because Mia is here again, standing in front of me like when we still shared the same space and time and bumping into each other, though always a happy coincidence, was nothing unusual, not the slightest bit extraordinary.

Gayle Forman -- Where She Went

Not sarcastic, but like he thought it was a cool coincidence, and for about a month I went around thinking we had this special connection based on babies.

Rick Yancey -- The 5th Wave

You think that’s a coincidence?

Dave Eggers -- The Circle

"Real or not, it’s an incredible coincidence," said Millard.

Ransom Riggs -- Hollow City

The name was just a weird coincidence, but it left me with an uncanny feeling I couldn’t shake.

Ransom Riggs -- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

I knew this had to be coincidence.

Farley Mowat -- Never Cry Wolf

It might have been nothing more than a coincidence, but nevertheless, I felt an exultant smile overflow my face.

Patrick Rothfuss -- The Name of the Wind

Perhaps he had been waiting for them to come out from the medical hut, or perhaps he had just then crouched to rest, the timing being mere coincidence.

Chang-rae Lee -- A Gesture Life

Coincidence?

Susan Ee -- Angelfall

It’s not a coincidence, that’s for sure."

Pittacus Lore -- I Am Number Four

Coincidental?

Marissa Meyer -- Cinder

My uncle says they were accidents, that it was a coincidence.

Judy Blume -- In the Unlikely Event

It is a strange coincidence, is it not, that two such gifted children should be admitted to the Institute at the very same time, and that they should be such close friends?

Trenton Lee Stewart -- The Mysterious Benedict Society

Nothing is a coincidence.

Sarah J. Maas -- Throne of Glass

It is coincidence and nothing more.

William Goldman -- The Princess Bride

Phoebe looked extensively relieved, but I knew it was not a coincidence that her father was there.

Sharon Creech -- Walk Two Moons

Such amazing connections and strange coincidences had brought three worlds together: the world of children in japan, George in Canada, and the lost world of a Jewish girl from Czechoslovakia who died so long ago.

Karen Levine -- Hana’s Suitcase

"The judge says she’s a pawn and Otis Amber says he’s the king, Crow’s the queen— Oh well, it’s probably just a coincidence."

Ellen Raskin -- The Westing Game

Just a coincidence.

Holly Goldberg Sloan -- Counting by 7s

"Well, what a coincidence, I dreamed about a convertible," Merrick said.

Anne Tayler -- A Spool of Blue Thread

It’s just a coincidence that only Catholics go there?"

Edward Bloor -- Tangerine

"Maybe it’s just a coincidence, Jules.

Katherine Applegate -- The One and Only Ivan

Of course, this was not coincidence, not at all.

Ji-Li Jiang -- Red Scarf Girl

Way too big a coincidence to have two murders on the same street at the same time by two different sets of killers.

David Baldacci -- Zero Day

I was especially curious after you told me you were adopted, but again, I thought maybe it was a coincidence.

Colleen Hoover -- Hopeless

Standing there, I realize something else: that it wasn’t a coincidence whenever Carol made fun of me for still believing in the Invalids, whenever she would shake her head without bothering to look up from her knitting needles—tic, tic, tic, they went together, flashing metal—and say, "I suppose you believe in vampires and werewolves, too?"

Lauren Oliver -- Delirium

Was it coincidence that joy and power imperceptibly drained from my ministry?

Corrie Ten Boom -- The Hiding Place

I’m sure I must have told you that, due purely to an alphabetical coincidence (everything is alphabetical in the service), Pete Strohmyer and Chuckle Stutz are my roommates here.